Buckle Up!

 As I type, there are just a few hours left of this ride called 2025. It's been quite something.

As always, 2026 will bring some surprises. Let's hope most of them are nice ones. In any case, I hope that you're buckled in with helmets on for our next ride around the sun on this little rocky world we call home.

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Hooks, Books, and Beyond

 A friend messaged me the other day wanting to know how I made one of my hats. I tried explaining it to her, but I wasn't doing a very good job and WhatsApp really wasn't the right place to do that anyway, so I suggested we do a meet-up at the library and I'd show her. We did that today. I returned library books while I was there. We had coffee and chocolate (me) and ginger tea (her). She crocheted and we chatted. She asked if I wanted to go to lunch and I accepted. We went to a place down the street that I'd never been to before. It was quite good. We both had some vegetable soup--she had a toasted chicken sandwich with a red onion marmalade (chutney?) with hers and I had some chips with mine. Then I had some sticky toffee pudding, which was like a large cupcake. It was good. She asked if I'd been to Port Arthur. I said I hadn't so we went there after lunch. She took me down a country road wide enough for one car at a time and full of potholes. It was only 5 minutes or so off the main road but felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. She parked and we walked down to the pier, where we stayed for a while just drinking in the views, breathing in the fresh air, and listening to the water lapping on the rocks and up the pier. It was lovely.

On the way back she took me up a regular road, which had no pot holes but did lack some of the charm of the road we arrived on. 

So it was a nice outing. She got her hat started, we talked up a storm and made some preliminary plans for next year, we had a nice lunch, and I saw a place I'd never seen before. Good craic* as they say. Hope you're having some good craic today too.

*'craic' is pronounced 'crack' and means fun, a good time, etc

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The Usual Season's Eatings

 I hope that everyone had a lovely day yesterday, whether you were celebrating Christmas or not. Today is also a holiday here--St Stephen's Day. And now, we've entered Twixmas, which is my favorite! Things get even more quiet than usual here. We have plenty of leftovers so there will be no meal planning, cooking, or thinking about acquiring comestibles. I look forward to these days. We stopped doing a big elaborate meal over 4 decades ago, so our leftovers consist of what has become the usual holiday fare for us. 

On Christmas Eve, I make a big lasagna in my slow cooker. It doesn't take long to put together and is delicious. I make the sauce, but pre-made would work too. Just layer everything in the slow cooker (do not cook the noodles first), turn it on high for 4 1/2 hours or so, then turn off the slow cooker and take the lid off, leaving it to sit for 15-20 minutes. Then eat. This year I made the ricotta ahead of time.

ricotta being scooped into the slow cooker

ready to turn on the slow cooker

time to eat

On Christmas Day, I make jalapeno cheese puffs for lunch. They're so good just out of the oven, which is the best time to eat them, but they're good heated up too, so I make a double batch and we have them for a few days.

this was one pan of two

For supper, there was smoked salmon spread with crackers. I made the smoked salmon spread the day before, after I started the lasagna.

I don't measure, but dump some cream cheese/soft cheese (as it's called here), some extra mature/extra sharp cheddar, some sun-dried tomatoes, some roasted red pepper, smoked salmon, garlic, chives or scallions, oregano, basil, and a little chilli powder into the bowl of my food processor, fitted with the blade. I whiz until it's all combined. 

So with all that done, I'll be meandering through the next couple days doing what I want when I want. Right now, I'm going to enjoy another cup of caramel coffee. I hope that you have a lovely day today, doing whatever it is you want to do.

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Season's Greetings

May you be happy,

May you be healthy,

May you find peace,

May you live with ease,

May you have many moments of quiet joy--during this holiday season and beyond.

needle felted background with French knots, crochet border, and sea glass 'tree'

needle felted background, crochet embellishment and border

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Why Can’t We Be Friends? ft. WAR and Friends | Playing For Change | Song...

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A Visit from the Plumber

 One day, the hot water stopped flowing. This was the case in both the kitchen and the bathroom. This didn't affect the shower because it's an electric shower and the hot water is heated as it comes through the little heating unit that the shower head is attached to. The cold water was working fine and the radiators heated up as usual, so it seemed to me, ignorant as I am about plumbing, that there must be some blockage somewhere, but this seemed odd. I notified the guy who manages the place and he said he'd get the plumber here. Today, the plumber arrived. He checked the press (the cupboard/closet where the hot water tank sits on a shelf with the water to be heated by either the oil burner when we have the heat on or using electricity). He checked the taps. He got his ladder and climbed into the attic to check the tank that lives up there. This is a common feature of dwellings here, which we learned about in our first Irish apartment. We had no idea why there was dripping water outside one of the bedroom windows in the middle of every night. We told the landlord at the time and he said he'd send someone, but although we reminded him several times, no one ever showed and the dripping continued, much to the annoyance of our neighbors, who finally complained to the people managing their business premises and apartment. In the meantime, I was describing the problem to someone and they explained about these water tanks. Water comes from the mains and fills the tank, which has a float mechanism, like in a toilet tank, which prevents overflowing. In the case of our first apartment, it didn't work so the tank overflowed outside. 

Today when the plumber came back down, he said there was water in the tank, which was good. He said he had a gadget that should solve our problem. He did what he did and we heard a noise. He asked if we'd heard the gurgle. He tried the taps and they worked. He went back up into the attic to check the tank again, came down, and handed me this:

He said this had been blocking the flow of hot water. I--rather foolishly because how the hell would he know--asked how that got in the tank. Of course he had no idea. But it's in the trash now and the hot water is flowing once again.

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New to Me: Portnoo and Spice Bag

 I had another outing with a friend today--the same one who brought me to the place where I discovered curry and chips. She was heading to Dungloe to do some grocery shopping and asked if I wanted to go with her. I figured I might as well take the opportunity to go to Aldi and Lidl where the veg people traditionally make for Christmas is on a deep discount at the moment. Plus they have some things for the holiday that I can use in the months ahead but that would likely be gone if I didn't get them now. I didn't really need anything now, but I was able to stock up on things and we should now be able to avoid going to the grocery store for a couple of weeks at least. Even after that, we won't need much. So it was a productive trip, even though I don't care much for grocery shopping. It was a fun day today though. We were in and out of the stores early and then we went to a wee village I'd never been to called Portnoo. My friend wanted to go to a small shop there where they sell sausages she really likes. It was raining when we were going down the narrow road towards the village, but it stopped and the sun even came out on the way back. She stopped at a small viewing platform so we could stand in the wind and look at the sea for a few minutes, which was lovely. There was even a faint rainbow.

Then we turned toward home, stopping along the way in another tiny village, Lettermacaward. There's a pub there that my friend loves and we stopped there for lunch. She got gluten free chicken curry with rice and chips and I was tempted to get the regular version again, but instead I opted to try something new--a chilli chicken spice bag with curry sauce. Note that there is no bag involved.

It was only a year or two ago that I first heard about a spice bag and I had no idea what it was. I guess there are different types, both vegetarian and not. It's usually veg and chips with a spice coating on them and it can also contain some sort of meat--this one has chicken. I think the origins of this may be murky but one story I read said that a takeaway in Dublin tossed leftover food in a bag or container at the end of the day and somehow word got around and people started asking for it. Demand spread and now it's on many menus. I have no idea whether this is the true origin story or not. I think this is supposed to be good for hangovers too and I can understand why. I don't know if they're all like this because this is the only one I ever had, but it won't be the last. It was excellent. Just the right amount of spice and an excellent curry sauce. 

On the way home, we swung by the library so I could pick up a book Bill got in today. So we're all set for our traditional holiday hibernation--no plans and nowhere to be. Just enjoying a quiet festive season at home. This is exactly the way I love to spend the holiday--relaxed, peaceful, calm, and quiet. Whatever you like to do at this time of year, I hope you're able to do lots of it and are enjoying the days.

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